Title: Fallen
Author: Lauren Kate
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Review Copy Provided by Publisher/Shelf Awareness
Parental Warning: light language, teenage rebellion, fighting, pyromania

Summary:
Exiled to the Sword and Cross school after a freak accident takes the life a boy she’s in love with Luce finds herself entangled in a strange triangle of good versus evil.

Tentatively befriending a series of outcasts, misfits and reprobates Luce navigates her time at the reform school cautiously in an attempt to investigate.  Focusing on the student population she hopes to avoid the constant stream of strange events that seem to follow her. Preceded by an ominous conflagration of shadows nipping at her heels Luce can’t shake the feeling that she is losing her mind in a slow and torturous game of cat and mouse.

Enter Daniel and Cam, two boys with interest in and intentions for Luce. The problem? Luce is unsure who to believe.  Cam is sweet and generous, offering to help Luce adjust to the prison-like atmosphere of her new school.  He clearly wants to engage her romantically but she can’t quite go the extra mile.  On the other hand she is instantly attracted to Daniel, the arrogant and mysterious boy who couldn’t be bothered to give her the time of day.

What Luce doesn’t realize as she’s desperately trying to win Daniel over is that each boy has distinctly different plans for her.  It is in these plans that relationships are revealed, bonds are strengthened and a sad history repeats itself.

Opinion:
Ms. Kate did an excellent job in setting the mood with Fallen.  In particular the Savannah locale and the dingy gothic feeling of the Sword and Cross campus and it’s grounds left the reader with a decidedly mystical and dark feeling.  It’s these feelings that fed into the danger and suspense the overarching story was trying to achieve.

Further I was a particular fan of the most of her characterizations.  I believe I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m a fan of the bad boy (which I totally am).  That, my friends, is exactly where Daniel fits in.  He’s quite mysterious in a “is he good or is he bad” kinda way.  I really enjoyed the back and forth as I tried to settle on exactly where his allegiances fell.  Was he there to protect or harm Luce?

I found some of the different characters to be much in the vein of Daniel. I couldn’t decide who was truly good and truly bad so when the ultimate reveal came and we learned who was on what side I was pleased with the outcome.

Another thing I’m a fan of?  Attraction.  And man, was Luce ever attracted to Daniel.  Good or bad she wanted him and wanted him like a dog wants a juicy steak for dinner.  I could practically see her mouth salivating every time he was even mentioned, let alone when they were in the same place at the same time together.  The downside, this desire to be near him often times clouded her judgement and put her in remarkably dangerous and stupid situations. In that vein I would have liked to have seen that either Luce was under his spell more (leading her to make those poor decisions) or have her be a bit more wise and cautious.

A third thing that makes me fannish?  The slow build.  I like it when bit by bit we learn something new that leads us down the path to discovery.  Having said that, I thought Fallen was a bit too slow in that way.  There are only so many moonlit meet ups and dangerous situations to save a girl from before answers should be revealed and at times it felt a bit repetitive.

Finally, I felt the initial chapter showcasing some small glimmer of historical perspective felt out of place.  The transition between it and the modern day chapter that followed was too abrupt and it wasn’t until later in the book that the reader could really put the two together effectively.  I would have liked a bit more of that history on the angels and their fall but I suspect we might get a good deal more of that in book two so in the end it didn’t ruin the story as a whole for me.

In the end, I did enjoy Fallen and am looking forward to seeing what is to come in book two.  If you are a fan of darker themed teenage romance with a historical  and mystical theme I’d say this book is one you should give a go.